Sensitive Index Falls; Bharti, Hindalco Decline as Earnings Miss Estimates

India’s benchmark stock index declined. Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Hindalco Industries Ltd. led the drop after posting quarterly earnings that fell short of analyst estimates.

Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile-phone operator, dropped the most in two weeks after its profit fell 27 percent as it cut call rates to win a larger share of the market in Africa and compete with 14 other companies in India. Hindalco, the biggest aluminum producer, slid to its lowest close in four days.

“Investors are reacting to the corporate results,” said Kaushik Dani, a Mumbai-based fund manager with Peerless Mutual Fund, which manages $598 million in assets. Dani declined to comment on specific shares.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell 56.77, or 0.3 percent, to 20,875.71 as of the 3:30 p.m. close in Mumbai, after swinging between gains and losses more than 25 times. The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange lost 0.4 percent to 6,275.70. The BSE 200 Index retreated 0.3 percent to 2,652.54.

Stocks on the Sensex are valued at 20 times earnings after the gauge jumped 20 percent this year, the best performance and most expensive among the world’s 10 biggest stock markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bharti Profit

Bharti Airtel decreased 2.2 percent to 327.05 rupees, its biggest drop since Oct. 26. Second-quarter net income dropped to 16.6 billion rupees （$374 million） in the three months ended Sept. 30 from 22.6 billion rupees a year earlier. That lagged behind the 17.8 billion rupee average of 27 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Hindalco fell 1.2 percent to 228.1 rupees, its lowest close since Nov. 4. Quarterly profit was 4.34 billion rupees, short of the 5.52 billion rupee average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Higher costs eroded the result, the company said in a statement.

Drugmaker Divi’s Laboratories Ltd. lost 2.6 percent to 721.7 rupees after saying second-quarter profit declined 15 percent to 719.3 million rupees.

Tata Motors Ltd., the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, advanced 2.6 percent to 1,302.5 rupees, extending gains from its highest level in almost two decades as the global economic recovery and growing demand in China and the U.S. boosted sales of luxury vehicles. Group net income, including Jaguar Land Rover, reached 22.2 billion rupees in the three months through September, exceeding the 17.1 billion-rupee average estimate of 10 analysts compiled by Bloomberg.